


Working out a path to your heart, sniper style

by Bill_Longbow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky has a plan, Domestic Avengers, Don't copy to another site, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Oblivious Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-04 19:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20475983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bill_Longbow/pseuds/Bill_Longbow
Summary: Where Steve sweats and blushes, Tony stumbles and Bucky learns to check his facts.





	Working out a path to your heart, sniper style

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HogwartsToAlexandria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Workin' out the path to your lips](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19201708) by [HogwartsToAlexandria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria). 

> A remix for Marie's wonderful story, go read that one as well, it's funny and feel good!  
Thank to [Mena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/) for cheering and [Kocuria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kocuria/) for the beta and [moodboard](https://%20%20%20%20%20%20/)!

Fact 1: Bucky is a sniper and a highly trained assassin. He _ notices _ things. 

Fact 2: Tony is a genius.

Fact 3: Steve is a major troll. He may look like an angel, but Bucky knows him better than anyone, and he knows what hides behind that innocent facade. 

These facts should add up to a very clear picture, but they don’t. Something is off, and Bucky doesn’t like it when things are off.

He looks at Steve stretching after his early morning run, turning his torso this way and that before bending forward all the way to touch his toes.

Bucky then moves his gaze to where Tony just choked on his coffee and spluttered his beverage all over himself and the floor.

Steve jumps up like a jack in the box and hurries over to gently hold onto Tony as the other coughs and hacks the coffee out of his lungs. Bucky watches Tony’s cheeks turn red when he can breathe normally again, and then hightail it out of the kitchen, leaving a regretful looking Steve.

  
  


It’s a pattern. Steve does something innocuous and Tony almost dies. Or tries to disappear only to run into something. The man’s legs must be covered in bruises at this rate.

The reverse is also true. Whenever Tony comes shambling into the kitchen in the mornings, barely clinging to consciousness, Steve suddenly loses all the grace and reflexes the serum granted him and either drops his glass or food, along with his dignity.

Bucky is almost positive Steve does it on purpose, since it never fails to wake up Tony properly who then proceeds to help Steve with the cleanup, their heads close together as they reach for the same piece of debris. It’s a wonderful tactic for a pining soldier, Bucky thinks, but for the way Steve mumbles an apology about needing to be somewhere and leaves in a hurry. 

Strange.

  
  
  


A zombie shuffling Scott doesn’t elicit much more than Steve pushing a chair out of his path without looking up from the newspaper, and Sam doing push ups only encourages Tony to make awful pigeon jokes. Which in turn make Steve laugh too loud, in Bucky’s opinion, but Sam’s chagrined expression _ is _pretty damn funny.

  
  
  


After an hour of intensive parkouring Bucky saunters into the common floor kitchen in his sweat drenched, skin tight t-shirt and shorts. Steve is sitting at the counter for a late afternoon snack, stuffing his face with bacon flavoured chips. 

As soon as Bucky walks in though, Steve’s jaw drops and he sits gaping like a fish above water as Bucky ignores him on his way to the fridge.

Huh. 

“You okay, Stevie?” he asks casually, twisting the lid of the milk carton and putting it to his mouth.

“Fine!” Steve squeaks and clears his throat. “Fine,” he reiterates in his normal voice. 

“Awesome. We still got a date tonight?”

Bucky almost breaks character to laugh at Steve’s ‘caught in the cookie jar’ face.

“Date?”

“Hm,” Bucky hums as he puts the carton back in the fridge. “You were taking me to that new burger joint you found?”

As understanding dawns Steve’s blush fades and he smiles a tad bit sad. “Right, of course! Meet ya here at five?”

“Alright, see you then.” Bucky might have put a little more swing in his sashay than usual, for the sake of experimentation, of course, and on his way out he hears Tony walk into the wall.

Huh again.

  
  
  


Bucky is surprised and a little confused. All his observations lead to this conclusion: Tony and Steve are hopelessly pining for each other and will do so indefinitely unless someone takes action. Someone meaning him. (Nat is too amused by the whole affair to help the poor bastards out.)

This latest occurrence is an outlier, and Bucky needs more data.

  
  
  


When Bucky comes into the workshop without his shirt to ask about the arm Tony drops a wrench on his foot. 

When he flicks his hair and bats his lashes at Steve to ask for a seat on movie night Steve drops the popcorn bowl in his haste to make space. 

Pulling out Tony's chair at dinner makes the genius blush a delightful pink, and when Bucky winks at Steve as he passes the potatoes Steve does that shy smile Bucky loves so much. 

As soon as Bucky noticed Steve and Tony’s obvious crush on each other he had assumed he had to suck up his own budding feelings of _ might be more than friendship _ and help the fellas out. But it seems like none of Bucky's initial assumptions were right: _ he _never noticed what was right in front of him, Tony certainly isn’t a genius when it comes to social interactions, and Steve might be a troll, but he’s also an oblivious egg. 

  
  
  


With his new knowledge Bucky devises a plan. 

  
  
  


Bucky waits at the corner of the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee. At some point in the night Dum-E wandered up from the workshop to the common area, and the bot is busying himself with making one of those disgusting green smoothies Jarvis pretends are good for their creator. This means that any minute now Tony will shamble in - Bucky checks his watch - just in time for Steve to come back from his run.

Soon enough Steve’s comes jogging in, wiping sweat from his brow with the bottom of his shirt showing off his ridiculous abs. Bucky’s glad he’s half hidden behind the huge potted plant and thanks the decorator for their foresight as he almost slips off his stool himself. 

“Hey Buck,” Steve greets him absentmindedly on his way to the spot between the bar and the couch.

"Hmm," Bucky answers noncommittally, pretending to be too sleepy for conversation yet, with his face in his coffee cup. It's important Steve gets on with the second part of his workout routine, and he does, by the sound of it. 

Right on time because Bucky can make out the soft shuffle of Tony coming to enter the kitchen on the other side. Sleepy Tony is adorable - not enough to drop your frikking food every time, Steve Rogers - and Bucky fondly watches him fumble with the coffee maker. 

Dum-E bumps into his calves to proudly present him with a fresh smoothie, and Tony's subsequent yell has Steve shooting up from a squat like he's on a spring to see if Tony needs his help. 

Tony startles again at Steve's face suddenly appearing from behind the bar, but he recovers soon and both men look at each other with matching dumb smiles on their faces. 

Tony turns back to his coffeemaker, absentmindedly taking a sip from the green concoction, and Steve goes back to his squats. Bucky doesn't miss the way Tony moves a little to the side to watch, faking a chagrined expression. 

"Morning, Tony," Bucky says with a sultry voice as he gets up. 

"Geez," Tony greets him, clutching his heart with one hand. "I'm putting a bell on you, Barnes."

"Sure, Tony," Bucky replies and ties up his hair while flexing unnecessarily. The way Tony nearly chokes on his smoothie boosts Bucky's confidence this scheme of his will work. 

He turns to Steve who's pretending not to look at them, and pushes out his hip. "Bet you can't do as many one handed push ups as me."

The effect is instantaneous. Behind him Tony sighs heavily as Steve jumps up with a grin, his hopeless pining temporarily forgotten in the face of a challenge. 

“You’re on, Sergeant,” Steve grins and his enthusiasm is contagious, making Bucky grin in reply.

They drop down onto their right arm in tandem and soon Bucky is lost in the challenge, focussing on keeping his balance and sweating profusely. 

“ENOUGH!” Tony suddenly exclaims, clutching at his forehead like he’s fighting off a migraine. “Can you _ not _?”

Steve slowly gets up and looks in confusion at Tony. “Not what?” He looks around as if he’s searching for clues, and not even Bucky can tell if he’s seriously that dim or only pretending to be.

Bucky decides to chip in and stands as well, taking a step closer. “Not what, Tony?” He asks as innocently as possible.

Tony paces from behind the counter in agitation, and his problem is clearly visible in his loose fitting pajama pants.

“This!” he waves at his crotch. “You showing off your perfect bodies in the common room! It’s not called common room for nothing. It’s for common abs, not super abs. Geez. I haven’t had this many boners at breakfast since puberty. I’ve been beating my dick like it owes me money, you’re driving me insane!” Tony claps one hand in front of his mouth as he realizes he divulged too much information, a blush high on his cheeks.

Steve stares dumbly at him but Bucky makes his move. He throws his arm over Steve’s shoulder and gives Tony his bedroom eyes as he kisses Steve’s cheek. Steve now looks between Tony and Bucky like a deer caught in headlights, but Bucky’s not done yet. “Did you know I’ve had a crush on Stevie since 1933?” 

Both Tony and Steve look dumbfounded now. Their twin expressions of shock would be funny if there wasn’t so much at stake. 

“What?” Steve squeaks as Tony’s look turns resigned instead of curious, so Bucky has to press on.

“Thought it was a lost cause, what with you two making doe eyes at each other at every turn.”

“What?” Now it’s Tony’s turn to look like a confused puppy. 

“Way back when we could’ve been thrown in jail if I ever made a move on him,” Bucky continues conversationally, sounding calmer than he actually feels, but the solid feel of Steve against his side lends him the courage to continue.

“Imagine my pleasant surprise when I find out people can be in a relationship with not one, but with _ several _men now,” he chuckles. 

“Bucky?” Steve asks, his hand coming up hesitantly to circle around Bucky’s waist. 

“Sorry to lay it on ya like this, buddy,” Bucky smiles and ducks his head, feeling suddenly self conscious with Steve looking at him like he’s the best thing that he ever came upon.

“This is heartwarming, it truly is. Love through the ages and all that. Wonderful. Well, I don’t think you need me here, I’ll just go an--”

“Tony,” Bucky sighs, interrupting the verbal onslaught. “I said _ several _ men. Which means more than one.” He looks at Tony pointedly, and is relieved when Steve starts to grin. His friend might be slow on the uptake, but pointed in the right direction he does recognize a good thing.

“I thought you both were straight,” Steve says and rubs his neck, which shouldn’t be adorable in a man the size of a boulder, but really is. “Thought I didn’t stand a chance.”

“Straight? How on earth would you come to that conclusion?” Tony asks aghast, waving at his crotch again. “Don’t you read the-- right. You don’t.” Tony brushes a nervous hand through his hair and Bucky beckons him over.

“I don’t play games,” Bucky says, looking between the two others. 

“I don’t anymore,” Tony answers, and Steve shakes his head.

Tony cautiously comes closer, but as soon as he’s in reaching distance Bucky pulls him close and into a threeway hug.

“This is nice,” Tony sighs and Bucky squeezes them tighter.

“Shouldn’t there be kisses?” Steve asks.

“Not on the common floor,” Natasha suddenly speaks up from the kitchen entry where’s she’s calmly peeling an orange. “Though it was high time this happened.”

The grin on Steve’s face spells nothing but trouble, and Nat knows it. She leaves just in time to miss him pulling Tony into a heated kiss, the sight of which Bucky really appreciates. When Steve pulls back and first he and then Tony kisses Bucky, he sighs.

Fact 1: He has the best ideas.

Fact 2: Steve’s lips are softer than they look.

Fact 3: Polyamory is really all that it’s cracked up to be. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://bill-longbow.tumblr.com) or join us on the 16+ [ Stuckony discord server ](https://discord.gg/jtXcc3n) for all things Tony, Bucky and Steve!


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